Jan Oblak explains what makes Messi 'the best player in the world'

The Barcelona skipper is frequently hailed as the world’s best by his peers, and now Oblak has revealed why that’s the case.

Jan Oblak believes what makes Lionel Messi ‘the best’ is his ability to see everything on the pitch and act accordingly.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner made history again on Tuesday by scoring in Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Real Valladolid to break the legendary Pele’s one-club scoring record with his 644th goal for the Blaugrana.

To achieve such a feat in only 16 seasons (excluding the current one) would require an average of 40 goals-per-campaign to pull off. And considering Messi only made nine appearances in 2004/05, he needed to average 43 goals across the other 15 campaigns.

December 22, 2012: Breaks the record for most goals in a calendar year

December 22, 2020: Breaks Pelé's record for the most goals for a single club

A special day for Messi 🐐 pic.twitter.com/j6lQBkDt17

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 22, 2020

Now Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Oblak, who has conceded 10 goals in 17 games against Messi, has revealed what it’s like to face the Argentine.

“He watches my legs,” Oblak told Sky Sports.

“If I make one step, he will see it and shoot to the other side. This is why he is the best. This is why he is so difficult. He does not show it, but he is always looking. He is always watching you. His eyes are on the ball, but he sees you.

“He sees everything, I think. It is strange. Sometimes you think you are controlling them, you are controlling him. But in a second, he changes the game, he scores a goal, and Barcelona win.

“Sometimes you do not see him. Maybe you are thinking it is not dangerous. And then he scores. This happened to us last season. You need to be 100 per cent concentrated.

“He is still the best player in the world.”

Oblak added: “He has scored many goals against me. Too many!

“But he is a great player, an amazing player, the best player. There are many times that he scores a goal and you have this feeling that you cannot understand how he has scored so easily.

“You are not even close. Sometimes it feels like he has just passed the ball into the goal, it is not even a shot.”